How to choose a new car

James Foxall explains what questions you need to ask yourself to ensure you
buy the best car for your budget.

I would question Audi’s assertion that the new Audi A3has “everything you need, nothing you don’t”. However, that sentiment is a worthy one when you’re looking at saving money on your motoring costs. Any purchasing decision starts with a set of questions about what car best suits your needs and budget. I shall explain the process with reference to my choice of an Audi A3 as family transport.

I would have loved a two-seat roadster. Equally, I wouldn’t have minded a small SUV but the reality is it wouldn’t really match my needs. So a small hatchback in the shape of Audi’s new A3 it is, and currently this seems like the most financially expedient way forward for my family.

Size of car sorted, the next debate was between petrol and diesel. We do 20,000 miles annually so, according to the AA’s calculator, a diesel will cost £2,992 a year in fuel. Petrol, it says, will cost £3,114 a year. That’s not a deal-breaker but the 2.0 TDI I chose has CO2 emissions of 106g/km compared with the 130g/km of the 1.8 TFSI petrol engine. That’s another £80 off the annual bill.

The biggest cost of motoring is depreciation, and here’s where the Audi A3 scores. The latest version is so new it’s currently impossible to say how much money it’ll lose over its lifetime but there’s nothing to suggest it won’t match the previous A3. According to used car-experts, in 2.0 TDI guise that car held on to 58.2 per cent of its value after three years. If my new A3 matches that, in three years it will be worth £14,489.

For comparison, let’s assume someone is foolish enough to pay list price for one of Britain’s worst depreciating cars, the Vauxhall Insignia 2.0 CDTi. At £25,985 it’s about £1,000 more expensive than my A3. Yet its rate of depreciation is so rapid it will only be worth £7,847 after three years.

Options are another minefield that can cost the unwary. Some makers charge a small fortune for satellite navigation. Audi’s system costs £495 so even if, as used-car experts reckon, a factory-fitted satnav is only worth about £300 at resale time, an Audi A3 owner wouldn’t lose too much. Countering that, satnav is what the trade calls a “selling feature”. On top of that, my A3 is in SE specification which, according to Glass’s Guide, should hold on to about 90 per cent of the extra cost over the basic trim come resale time.

All this shows that saving money on a new car doesn’t have to involve wholesale sacrifices – as long as your key decisions are broadly correct.

HOW TO COLLECT YOUR NEW CAR

Picking up your new car is one of the most exciting parts of ownership. But it’s important to make sure all the excitement doesn’t obscure your judgment.

For a start, make sure your car has all the options you specified, as the details of the option packs can change between order and manufacture. It’s not that rare an occurrence, either, as Honest John’s postbag often proves.

There’s a lot of documentation associated with both new and used cars. Check it rigorously before you drive away. As well as the registration document, make sure you get a correctly dated sales invoice showing that you’ve paid in full.

Bear in mind that pre-delivery inspections don’t always identify faults or blemishes, so spend a bit of time running your eyes over the bodywork for panel damage.

Most dealers will do a handover to show you how things work. If something is wrong, they need to know about it as soon as possible. When you first drive the car, wait before turning on the sound system to pick up any squeaks and rattles.

Between last April and November, the Citizens’ Advice Bureau dealt with 4,346 new-car complaints, most likely from owners who have endured the aggravation of multiple trips to a dealership when many could have identified the problems on collection.